Chelsea Hughes
Imagine looking into a mirror and finally feeling confident and sexy at the reflection looking back at you, invigorated by the euphoria of self-love. For many of us, this is not necessarily the case because of media’s historically narrow definition of beauty.
Fortunately, Chelsea Hughes, owner of the all-encompassing, L.A.-based lingerie brand, Cantiq, has made it her mission to end this cycle and be a trailblazer for communities disregarded by the rest of the industry. Her company specializes in creating lingerie with their customer in mind that is meant for all shapes, sizes and gender identities.
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Hughes admits that diversity wasn’t something she focused on when she started creating designs for her “rinky-dink” Etsy shop. She assumed that the only recipe for success was following the standard way of doing things, solely appealing to white cisgender women. However, as her friends and customers started communicating their opinions about the lack of options, she realized she could use Cantiq for good.
“Our ideologies and mantras completely evolved from what we thought had to be done based on what everyone else was doing to forging a new path for the industry of inclusivity,” Hughes explains.
Stopping to celebrate the success that other brands are having by now adopting a more inclusive standard, it became clear that Hughes's biggest goal for Cantiq is spreading and normalizing body positivity.
“I’m not a gatekeeper! The point of Cantiq is to show that lingerie is not solely for one gender or size. It is for everybody. I want other brands to expand their horizons as we did. It shouldn’t be a niche to find inclusive clothing brands, but instead become a norm,” she says.
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It’s important to Hughes and her team to ensure that the everyday person, no matter their size or anatomy, can have the opportunity to feel confident and sexy.
“I design from dress forms because it helps me achieve shapes that will flatter as many body types as possible, and it’s easier to translate from the body to the design,” she says. Rather than covering up or trying to 'correct' things that society has taught us to be ashamed of, Cantiq takes inspiration from diverse bodies and finds ways to accentuate those features rather than taking part in the narrative of shame.
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By offering designs with "extra room" and a broader size range, Hughes can help people be a part of their journeys to self-acceptance and love, which she reiterates is overwhelmingly fulfilling. Trans shoppers, in particular, have been really appreciative of the designs because they finally feel celebrated, she says.
“One of my trans friends confided in me and said a big reason why she had the courage to transition was because of the Cantiq,” Hughes recalls.
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One of the ideologies that has never changed from when she started Cantiq, despite growing, was her ethical and sustainable design process. Everything you buy from Cantiq is small batch and made by only one person instead of the standard fast fashion assembly-line methods. These techniques result in fewer carbon emissions and create a family-like environment that allows her sewers to stay inspired and love their jobs. She prides herself on doing the opposite of what fast fashion companies do and is more than happy to create more careers for people that aren’t your standard, monotonous sewing lines.
“All of our products are made in our store. When I tell people that, they either gasp or laugh at me, but we don’t experience any of the normal issues that come with manufacturing. Cantiq is farm-to-table fashion,” she boasts. Despite the long wait time, customers are surprisingly more than understanding and even rejoice that they can support an ethical, small business.
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Even with Cantiq’s undeniable success and endless positive feedback, Hughes still receives negative comments.
“Get over it! Let people live. Who decided that lingerie was solely for cisgender women? I don’t understand why people could take offense to something that isn’t hurting them and only bring joy to someone else,” she says.
Hughes describes the process of lifting others up through Cantiq’s social media accounts. After assuring that she would never bash on the grueling jobs models have, she explains that she utilizes everyday people in her posts to get a more representative feed. It is of the utmost importance for her customers to envision themselves in the lingerie. She ensures this by posting people from the real world that align with Cantiq’s image. Her accounts have an essence of realness that couldn't be achieved from using modeling agencies.
While talking, Hughes reminisces about how far she and Cantiq had come. She first started making lingerie alone in her kitchen on a vintage sewing machine in 2015, but has quadrupled her company since then. She broadly thanks social media as one of the main contributors who helped grow her company during a time when so many small businesses were struggling to make ends meet. Hughes went from being the only person working for Cantiq to having four full-time sewers on her payroll to fufill all of the endless orders. With a successful brand and a brick-and-mortar shop on Sunset Boulevard, she explains how surprisingly tough it was for her as a young woman to get respect.
“When I first started, I would sometimes have my step-dad call suppliers or accounts and pretend to be upper management in the company because they would take him more seriously. Now I’ve gained confidence and don’t care as much. I assure them that I am the owner even if they say, ‘you’re so young,’” Hughes says.
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After all this time, Hughes explains that nothing brings her more joy than being able to share her love for fashion with everyone. “Cantiq creates clothing with individuals' bodies in mind, not in the sense of hiding it but in the sense of celebrating it, which has been incredible to be able to take part in everyone’s journeys to self-realization."
Photography by: Courtesy Chelsea Hughes
